Abit Ic7-g Bios Settings Help

[Freeder]

I've been doing some research on the ABit IC7-G mobo and was looking at their AGP/PCI lock option which went like this:

 

[FSB:AGP:PCI Ratio]

- [3:2:1], [4:2:1], [5:2:1], [6:2:1]

 

Since my current Soyo mobo doesnt have this type of option, I was wondering if this meant that AGP/PCI is locked before the FSB is overclocked or after? I'm pretty sure that it is before or else there would be no way that ABit would be called "overclock friendly" if their options tend to burn their boards.

From my calculations, [6:2:1] would be the one to pick to lock it at 66/33.

 

Is the Vcore on this board stable? Meaning that it stays at where you set the Vcore to be and not undervolted? I have this problem on the Soyo 865 Dragon Plus 2, where I set the Vcore to 1.600 and Bios it states it to be @ 1.47 idle. Under full load it drops to 1.39-1.40 and it's a ###### to oc it; the best i can do is 1.600 and ~3720 and have Prime95 run w/o errors.

[r_target]

There is another option in the BIOS that you didn't list-"Fixed." You set the AGP/PCI to "Fixed" and it's locked at 66/33 regardless of what you set the front side bus at.

 

As far as voltage drooping or sagging, no problems with that. Mine does undervolt about .025V, but it does it consistently, under load or idle. So if I set Vcore to 1.575 in BIOS it's 1.5; 1.6 would be 1.575.

[Freeder]

Thanks for the response man.

 

But i've read some startling response from people with this board and have Prescott CPUs. They say that it is difficult to OC with this combo because the Prescotts run hotter and the ABit IC7 boards read the processor temperature higher than other motherboards do. For instance, under full load the CPU temp. reaches 60 C + and that invokes thermal throttling from the mobo. Do you have this problem? I'm really distraught over hearing this because i was so into buying it too.

 

PS. I also read that the new bios rev.25 is giving quite a few problems for some people. Upon hearing this and some very vocal people accusing ABit for not releasing stable bios updates further decreases that chances of me buying it.

[r_target]

Well, I haven't put a Prescott in this board, butI think the 60c is the default thermal throttling temperature. There is an option in the BIOS to set CPU thermal warning and CPU thermal shutdown. You can set the temps to wherever you want. I'm not positive this controls what you're referring to, however.

 

 

As far as BIOS revisions go, I'm using BIOS 19. The later revisions have stuff I didn't really need (Prescott support). Bios 25 may very well be flaky, but the Prescott revisions (supposedly they fixed the temp reporting issue?) are in the earlier BIOS rev.s too.

 

Another option you might want to look into is the

Abit AS8. It's got the 865 chipset but the LGA775 socket. It's got AGP and regular DDR too, so you wouldn't have to buy a ton of other stuff just to get some Prescott action.

 

Don't forget to get a good heatsink.

[Freeder]

Thank you once again for the fast response, I really appreciate your help.

 

It does seem like that option sets the thermal throttling, but is there an option on the board to turn it off completely? And so thermal throttling is controlled by the mobo, not the chip itself?

 

If ABit IC7-G has that feature i'm definitely gonna purchase it. The others that I was considering was the DFI LanParty 875B, Asus P4C800 Deluxe, and maybe the Gigabytes--not really. But out of all the reviews and comments, ABit IC7-G came out on top performance-wise and price-wise (minus the bios update thing).

 

Did a little more research and found this great site that describes and tests thermal throttling on Northwoods and Prescotts http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/p4-throttling/?14231

Edited September 9, 2004 by Freeder

[r_target]

I was looking for that link earlier, glad you found it. Interesting reading:

 

"In other words, working at a risky, close-to-throttling rate is declared normal for Prescott, and cooling system is charged with an overheating-prevention task."

 

-In other words, they run hot.

 

As for motherboards, the DFI has a reputation as a solid performer, look for the latest revision of the board. The IC7's are all solid boards, I have the plain-jane flavor (no Gigabit LAN and no SI SATA controller, otherwise identical). The IC7 Max III is very popular around here too (next step up from the IC7-G).The Asus has voltage control issues, often requiring voltage mods to get peak OC ability. Some say that once modded properly, the Asus can OC higher than the others. But that's 300+ front side bus territory. You'll have to decide for yourself how much of a money pit you want your latest project to be.

 

In addition, there are plenty of Northwood cores still around. I guess the bottom line is that Prescotts OC like mad, you just have to deal with that heat.

[Hienrich Jager]

I am not entirely positive about the IC7-G, since I have the IC7-MAXIII, but if the two boards are similar then there is a throttleing temp that it totally customizeable. Additionaly, the Prescotts work like a wonder on this board, but only if you have a good HSF. I would reccomend a Thermaltake Spark +7. With that HSF I get load temps at 45C and 122F. Oveall I would reccomend the IC7-MAXIII, but with an older BIOS. Currently my a 2.8 Prescott OC'd to 3.4, but make sure that you have a really good PSU because it draws loads of power (my 410W wasn't up to it) .

 

Hienrich Jager

Edited September 9, 2004 by Hienrich Jager

[Freeder]

Such informative and experienced words, thank you for them.

 

So i'm just gonna go with the IC7-G because my local store carries them, and the others that I mentioned.

I think this will be my last upgrade/project for awhile until the 925/athlon64s become more mainstream and affordable.

 

Ever since coming to this site and a few other oc sites, i've spend money on an Antec 550w True Power (because i've read some scary crap about what can happen to junky PSUs that come with the case that are able to "blow up"), a water cooler kit, now an ABit IC7-G (gotta reach my OC potential), and probably a better case too. Good thing i'm single, I rather spend money on this ###### dat can't talk back and always ask for "more."

 

Somebody should warn noobs about the addiction of overclocking; I wasn't. Now i'm hooked.

Edited September 9, 2004 by Freeder

[nomisuk]

hi, was reading all your posts and yes the prescotts do run hot. I had a ic7-g with a northwood core to start with and got really good overclocks. The ic7-g board is great and really stable, i never had a problem at all. When the prescotts came out i was amazed how hot they do run. I bought a 2.8Ghz which was not overclocked and was running 25c hotter than my orginal p4 did which was overclocked by 600Mhz. In the end i sold it on as heat is a killer to overclocking. The prescotts are great if you do get them overclocked well and can perform very well. At present i sold my ic7-g and got an ic7-max 3 and moved back to a 3ghz northwood which is overclocked to 3.75ghz and runs on a zalman cpu7000alcu. My temperatures are quite good at 40c idle.